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Tuesday, June 06, 2017

Far Left Protest Blocks Israel Parade

JVP protesters block Celebrate Israel Parade's gay contingent

The gay contingent supporting Israel, before being blocked by protesters

Israel Parade LGBTQ Coalition Infiltrated- Shira HanauAs an LGBTQ group was nearing the end of the Celebrate Israel Parade route last Sunday, several marchers took off their button-down shirts, revealing red Jewish Voice for Peace shirts. Linking arms to block the rest of the group, they raised protest signs that read, “Queer Jews for Free Palestine” and “No Pride in Apartheid.”

The protesters were part of Jewish Voice for Peace, a Jewish activist group that calls for withdrawal of Israeli settlements from the West Bank and east Jerusalem and supports the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. They marched in the LGBTQ coalition without informing the coalition’s leaders of their intent.

When the LGBTQ marchers attempted to move past the JVP protesters, the protesters started “pushing and shoving and using their bodies to physically impede us,” according to Hannah Simpson, one of the marchers with Jewish Queer Youth.

“This situation could have escalated,” she said. “I think it’s tremendously scary and should be universally condemned by the entire Jewish community that these are not tactics that are acceptable for discourse.”

In addition to the LGBTQ infiltration, JVP had about 100 people “repeatedly disrupting” the parade from the sidelines, according to the group’s Facebook page.

Until 2012, the Celebrate Israel parade had a policy prohibiting openly LGBTQ groups from marching. JQY first marched in the Israel Day Parade in 2012 after the policy was changed. “Every year there are more people celebrating with us and showing us support, said Levovitz.